need pickup choice help (singing leads, beautiful cleans)

Apr 7, 2016
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hello there, fine folks. i want to pimp up my 6-string Ibanez and put in new pickups. it´ll be tuned to E standard and is supposed to accompany my new 7-string Ibanez, which is tuned to drop A. so this 6-string will be mostly used for leads and cleans. i´m looking for singing, liquid lead tones and clear, sparkly and rich cleans, both with the occasional edge to it. right now i have the Dimarzio Illuminator set on my watchlist. does anybody have any other recommendations?
 
I have a guitar with the D Sonic and had another with the Illuminator. I much prefer the D Sonic for lead work. I also have in the same guitar with the D Sonic an Air Norton in the neck. I had a LiquiFire in the neck with the Illuminator guitar. I preferred the Air Norton for cleans.
 
I'd look into Lace pickups. Fluff told on that his best gear couldn't hold near Chinese guitar with Lace in it.
I think he mentioned pickup model here
 
thanks for the feedback. right now i´m leaning towards the Air Norton / Tone Zone combo. judging from a couple of demos on youtube i quite like their sound.
 
right now i´m leaning towards the Air Norton / Tone Zone combo.
I had a Tone Zone in the bridge position of that guitar I mentioned that I had the Illuminator in. I went from the Tone Zone to the Illuminator. I would definitely advise against the Tone Zone. I hated it more than the Illuminator. I got rid of both pickups. The Tone Zone was a muddy mess and I had it in a very bright guitar. It was a maple thru-neck with swamp ash wings. I'd hate to hear what it sounds like in a mahogany bodied guitar. Don't do it. My advise for the bridge position is the D Sonic.
 
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hm, alright. guess i´ll stay away from the Tone Zone then. what do you think about the Steve´s Special?

edit: or rather, please keep in mind this won´t really be a rhythm guitar. so the Tone Zone would also be for cleans and leads. and i imagine in the bridge position the mid range and low end boost would help to keep it rich sounding while having the bight of the bridge position. thoughts?
 
it sounds pretty good here, at least imo.


but i´ll also do some research on the D-Sonic. thanks again for the input.
 
what do you think about the Steve´s Special?
I have one of those in my Ibanez RG with basswood body. I really love that pickup in that guitar. It sounds great for leads and cleans. If you want a bridge pickup to be great at both of those, then I'd go for the SS. I like the D Sonic for leads, but the SS beats it for clean tones.